


Considering the Circumstances

by donutsweeper



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Multi, implied threesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 09:56:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2768960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/pseuds/donutsweeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan is recovering, Audrey is at her wit's end and Duke? Duke's pretending not to care.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Considering the Circumstances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isabeau](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau/gifts).



> A yuletide treat for Isabeau. Thanks to Kristin for the beta.

Duke wanted to pound on the door, but considering the circumstances, he knocked softly. Calmly. Polite knocking, he could do polite. Except there was no answer, leaving a few possibilities: did he knock _too_ softly (possible) or was no one there to answer it (unlikely) or are they purposely ignoring him (shouldn't be the case, but, hey, you never know)? So, should he knock again, or wait or-

"Duke," Audrey said quietly upon opening the door."You came!" 

"You asked," he replied simply as she pulled him into a frantic hug. "And besides, it's Nathan. What else was I going to do?" When she released him he took a step back to get a good look at her. Her hair was messy, her shirt wrinkled and untucked. She held herself stiffly, her back tense. She still seemed worried, which made him nervous.

"Thank you." And, no, he didn't feel all light-headed and mushy inside from all that heartfelt gratitude in her voice. Not that he'd admit anyway.

"How's he doing?" Duke asked. She waved her hand in an invitation and he followed her inside.

Audrey didn't answer beyond offering a half-shrug and a sigh. So, Duke thought, Nathan was still being his charming self then.

"Getting him out of the hospital has helped a lot. There's still that lingering fever he can't seem to shake and the fact he still has to stay off that leg is driving him nuts, but, at least he's home. He's sleeping at the moment. Do you still want to see him anyway?" She paused only long enough to take a breath, not nearly long enough for him to answer and then she was practically tearing his jacket off of him and tossing it on the coat rack.

"I guess I do," he muttered with more amusement than heat.

"Coffee? I was on my way to grab some when you knocked."

"I never say no to coffee."

Audrey stopped in front of the kitchen door. "You go on," she said, gesturing with her chin to Nathan's bedroom further down the hall. "I'll bring you some in a minute."

Well, that was a none-too-subtle way of giving him some time alone with Nathan, which Duke appreciated. He took her up on it, gently pushing the door open. The light from the hall fell on Nathan giving Duke his first good look at him since Nathan had collapsed right in front of him. 

He looked, in a word, terrible. He'd lost weight, leaving him gaunt with sunken cheeks. The lingering fever left a sheen of sweat on his pale face. His leg, still swathed in bandages, was propped up on pillows. 

"Nathan," Duke sighed and slipped into the room. "I know I always made fun of you not being able to feel, but I never realized what kind of consequences your Trouble might have. I didn't think - I didn't know." 

He walked up to the bed and pushed a lock of damp hair off Nathan's forehead, grimacing at the lingering heat. "I should have said something when I first noticed you looking off, but I thought it was you being you." If he'd realized that cut on the back of Nathan's thigh would get infected the way it did he would have cleaned it out himself, no matter how 'casual' their thing was, no matter how Duke wasn't that kind of guy, no matter... Nathan almost lost his leg, for god's sake. Hell, he almost _died_.

There was a small bowl of water on the nightstand and a washcloth. Duke dipped the cloth in the water, wrung it out, and gently wiped the sweat off Nathan's face before running the washcloth up and down both arms.

"Duke?" Nathan sounded husky, his voice low and soft.

"Hey, buddy. Didn't know you were awake." Duke immediately dropped the washcloth next to the bowl. It wasn't that he minded that Nathan and Audrey sometimes saw his gentle side, but he wasn't going to advertise it more than he had to. "Thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing."

Nathan's eyes fluttered open and he blinked blearily up at Duke for a moment before saying, "Audrey's been taking good care of me."

"Of course she has."

"There's also a nurse that comes by a couple of times a day. Gives me shots and pills and who knows what else. I'm fine now, I don't see why-"

"Maybe because you almost _died_?"

Nathan tried to brush away Duke's concern with a flick of the hand. "It wasn't that bad."

"Nathan," Duke said seriously. "Yes it was."

"It was fever and an infection. I swear, the two of you-"

"Nathan!" Despite his frustration it wasn't a shout, but only just. 

Audrey took that moment to appear in the doorway, sipping from one of the mugs she was carrying. "Let me guess, he's trying to convince you he's 'fine'. He's been trying that line on me all day." 

She handed Duke his coffee and then walked past him, free hand trailing along his back, to place her mug on the nightstand. Then she picked up the washcloth, noting it was damp with a raised eyebrow in Duke's direction, and dipped it and wrung it out. "Nathan, we talked about this. I know you were scared. I was scared. Even Duke was scared." 

She sat on the edge of the bed as she washed him down, not looking at either man as she spoke, just focusing on the task at hand. "But what happened happened and saying it didn't doesn't change that it did."

"Parker," Nathan began, throwing Duke a look of such remorse and confusion that Duke couldn't help but take pity on the guy.

"You're sorry, right, Nathan? And you'll stop acting like you just had a burn or scrape that someone had to point out to you? Because you realize we almost lost you. No one wants that to happen, not us and especially not you. You do that and we'll," Duke said, looking at Audrey, "stop treating you like you're made of glass, okay?"

"Do I get some of that coffee if I say yes?"

The tension left the room in almost a noticeable woosh. Audrey smacked Nathan on the arm. "You know what the doctor said, no coffee until you're off your meds."

"Ow!" Nathan mock-protested. "Hey, wounded party here."

"Need me to kiss it to make it better?"

Pouting, Nathan said, "Yes."

Audrey dumped the washcloth back on the nightstand and climbed further onto the bed. "Like this?" she asked, pressing a kiss into his forehead. "Or like this?" Duke was intimately familiar with the second kind of kiss Audrey gave Nathan, gentle and sweet, not quite chaste, the kind you could lose yourself in. The kind you wanted to never end.

When she finally did break away Nathan licked his lips. "Mmmm, you taste like coffee." And she smacked him again, but then followed it up by curling next to him on the bed, carefully avoiding his bad leg.

"Troublemaker."

"I thought I was the troublemaker out of the three of us?" Duke protested.

"You can have the title back once I'm out of this bed," Nathan said around a yawn.

"Yeah, something tells me that's not going to be for awhile." Duke put down his mug so he could grab the arm chair and scoot around to the far side of the bed before plopping down on it.

"Thanks for coming." Nathan offered Duke his hand, which Duke grabbed and held in both of his.

"Sorry I didn't come by earlier."

"You shouldn't be," Audrey said, reaching out and adding hers to the pile. "Hard to imagine, but he was even grumpier then."

Duke bent down, pressing a kiss onto Audrey's hand. "Knowing this lug as long as I have, I believe it," he said, getting a laugh out of Audrey.

"Hey," Nathan protested, but it was easy to tell his heart wasn't in it.

Duke watched as Nathan tried to hide another yawn. "You look like you should sleep more."

Nathan settled back into his pillow and said, "I will, but only if you tell me a bedtime story."

"A bedtime story."

"Mm-hmmm"

"Why do you think _I_ even know a bedtime story?"

"Remember that that time we camped at Katahdin when we were nine?" Nathan chuckled while Duke burst out laughing. What a mess that whole trip had turned out to be.

"What?" Audrey asked, not appreciating being left out of a good joke. "What happened? Tell me!"

"No!" Duke and Nathan replied in unison.

"I don't know, Nathan, that was a long time ago." And they were different people then, he doesn't add. But Nathan turned and looked at him and he was still all pale and for a second Duke vividly remembered the way Nathan had seemed fine one minute and just _collapsed_ the next and he started to recite, "Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were-Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter."

Nathan was asleep before he even started to describe Mr. McGregor's garden.


End file.
